First Lady Wears an Alumnus’s Design in India

FIT Fashion design alumnus Bibhu Mohapatra is already having a great 2015.

At the start of her trip to India with President Obama on January 25, First Lady Michelle Obama looked stunning in a printed crepe dress and a silk-and-wool cutaway coat from Mohapatra’s spring 2015 collection.

As she and President Obama joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in January, First Lady Michelle Obama wore a dress designed by FIT alumnus Bibhu Mohapatra. (Photo by Shekhar Yadav/India Today Group/Getty Images)
As she and President Obama joined Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in January, First Lady Michelle Obama wore a dress designed by FIT alumnus Bibhu Mohapatra. (Photo by Shekhar Yadav/India Today Group/Getty Images)

According to WWD, the Indian-American designer met Mrs. Obama at the Celebration of Design event on October 8, 2014, which brought a diverse array of high school students and top designers—and a delegation from FIT— to the White House to promote careers in the fashion industry. Mohapatra prepared the outfit for the First Lady’s trip but wasn’t sure she would wear it until he saw photos and videos of her arrival.

“This is a major moment for me and my brand,” he told WWD. “I feel like I now have come full circle, with Michelle Obama arriving in my homeland in clothes designed by me.”

This is the second time Mrs. Obama has worn one of Mohapatra’s designs. The first was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2012.

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